A new definition of doing "the right thing"

Fixing Toronto Part 12

If we’ve read it once, we’ve read it 100 times so far this week: Toronto City Councillor Adam Giambrone “did the right thing” by stepping down from the Toronto Mayoral campaign.

It was definitely the “obvious thing” to do under the circumstances. Donors would have closed their pocketbooks tight, his campaign team was spitting mad given Mr. Giambrone’s vow to them on Monday evening that his relationship with a female University student amounted to no more than platonic texting (which turned out to be untrue). Mr. Giambrone was most surely going to poll in the single digits in light of these events (down from a modest 17% prior to the news), but how, exactly, was it “the right thing” to do?

Let’s backtrack to Monday night, quoting Candidate Giambrone himself from Tuesday morning’s Toronto Star:

In a statement Monday night to the Star, Giambrone said the relationship with Lucas “consisted of text messages and conversations in public places only. I met her mother, having dropped her off at home.”

The spin doctors came out Tuesday morning, with Giambrone Campaign Chair John Laschinger having this to say:

The head of Adam Giambrone’s campaign says the young TTC chair is having “a painful day” but doesn’t think his admission of an “inappropriate relationship” with a university student will kill his dream of being Toronto’s mayor.

“It’s a painful day for Adam. It’s embarrassing and reflects on (live-in girlfriend) Sarah (McQuarrie) and her friends and family,” but Giambrone has been “fully frank and transparent” since the story hit, Laschinger said.

“People are proud that he took responsibility for his actions.”

That all may have been true on Monday evening. Except that it wasn’t.

Once the news of the university-age girlfriend hit the media, a selection of Mr. Giambrone’s other 2009-vintage paramours called the Star to advise of their own “intimate” relationships with Mr. Giambrone. That’s when the wheels really started to come off.

By Wednesday’s edition, the Star had Mr. Giambrone admitting that he had been caught, and that he’d lied to their reporter and his experienced political handlers on Monday night. And we assume, his girlfriend, Mayor David Miller, and all of the other people he’d been talking to on Tuesday in the wake of the Star’s piece.

And it wasn’t just the initial lie / denial and attempt at a cover-up. The Star also had details in Tuesday morning’s edition of an apparently faked but “threatening email” that Mr. Giambrone’s campaign claimed Ms. Lucas sent to their candidate:

Monday night, Giambrone said in his statement Lucas had “earlier sent an email I thought was threatening.”

His campaign sent the Star a copy of an email that it claimed had been sent to Giambrone by Lucas on Jan. 7.

In the email she threatens to track down “ur `girlfriend’ and let her know about the affair we’re having. It doesn’t have to be true … ha! I hope U become mayor so that I could become TTC chair!”

Lucas denied sending the email and pointed out her name is spelled incorrectly.

As Tuesday night went along, Mr. Giambrone admitted to a host of relationships:

He read a prepared statement in which he apologized profusely to everyone in his life, including Sarah McQuarrie, his live-in partner of several years.

“I have no excuse for my failure to disclose my relationships with other women,” he said. “To have misled those around me in this fashion is the worst mistake of my life.”

“I misled you and I am sorry I have no excuse,” Giambrone said, referring to his statement to the newspaper the night before.

By Wednesday at 11am, Mr. Giambrone pulled the plug on his Mayoral campaign (or had it pulled for him by his campaign team). And then the waves of support started, with the majority of commentators practically congratulating the ex-candidate on doing “the right thing” by standing down to focus on his constituents, his romance and the Toronto Transit Commission.

Just yesterday, Mr. Giambrone was on a plane to Paris, France obstensibly with his long-suffering live-in girlfriend. The City of Love, just in time for St. Valentine’s Day. Cute.

As Councillor Brian Ashworth said on Wednesday, “I don’t really care what Adam Giambrone does in his private life.” Amen to that.

I was prepared to pass on the topic until I read in today’s Globe and Mail that Bruce Sandy, a Principal at Pathfinder Coaching and Consulting in Vancouver, thinks that:

“Mr. Giambrone took the right initial step this week by publicly admitting his affairs, taking responsibility for his actons, and saying ‘I humbly apologize'”.

Of course, that’s not what happened. Mr. Giambrone initially denied the story of his cheating ways, claiming that it was merely platonic “texting”. To prove his point, he even produced what Ms. Lucas claims is a faked email. Canada’s largest newspaper ran with the story of his claim of being a goody-twoshoes, and other jilted women came forward to support Ms. Lucas’ side of the story.

Caught in a lie and an apparent cover-up, Mr. Giambrone then kicks off his own pity party. On Wednesday morning he gets so emotional about his falling star that he can’t even complete his made-for-live-television apology for his actions.

This gets characterized as doing “the right thing”?

But the spin campaign isn’t over yet:

Mayor David Miller was quick to defend the embattled councillor yesterday, saying he supports Mr. Giambrone’s record as chair of the Toronto Transit Commission and sees no reason he should step down.

This morning’s Globe had the additional tid bit that Mr. Giambrone is in such a dark place that he feels he may no longer be suitable to stand for public office in Ward 18 when the Davenport district votes for their City Councillor later this year.

Brilliant move that. Put out the straw man that you may not run again, and have your supporters rush to your aid with statements about your “bright political future”. As chess moves go in politics, that was certainly “the right thing” to do.

We’ve all made mistakes in life. And we’ve all let people down at one or more points along the way. Morality is part of modern political life; that is true. But few of us should be the first to cast a stone.

What’s most interesting about this tale has nothing to do with Mr. Giambrone. It’s about our individual reactions to his actions. It’s as though people expected his initial denial to be untrue, and therefore don’t even blame him for it when their suspicions were ultimately confirmed the following day.

Former President Bill Clinton set the bar, and has benefited from the American forgiveness factor; Land of the Second Chance.

Based upon the undertones of the Week of Giambrone, maybe Canada is ready to join our Southern cousins in the world of forgiveness.

MRM
(disclosure – this post, like all Blogs, is a opinion piece)